King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
Scott Anderson
(Vintage Books, 2026)

On a 1977 state visit to Iran, Jimmy Carter toasted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King of Kings, praising Iran as “an island of stability” due to “your leadership and the respect and admiration and love which your people give to you.” The Shah seemed invulnerable and invaluable to the US as an ally in the Cold War. Fourteen months later the Shah fled Iran, forced from the throne by a religious revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini. How could the US, which had one of its largest CIA stations in the Middle East in Iran as well as thousands of military personnel, have been so blind?”

The story Anderson weaves is one of a dictator blind to the disdain of his subjects and a superpower blundering into disaster. The Iranian Revolution, he argues, was as world-shattering an event as the French and Russian revolutions. King of Kings is a brilliant history and a warning.

This event is presented in partnership with Historic Lewes.

About the author
Scott Anderson is a veteran war correspondent who has reported from Lebanon, Israel, Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Sudan, Bosnia, El Salvador, and many other strife-torn countries. Raised in East Asia and a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he is the author of two novels and six works of nonfiction, including Lawrence in Arabia.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2025 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. 

Thanks to all of our donors, especially our education and outreach funding partners: Ronald Collins & Susan Cohen, Carolyn & Aaron Nayer, Jen Mason & Clare Hancock, and Browseabout Books. HBF authors visit classrooms in Delaware, and HBF provides their books to schools, libraries, and community organizations.

Our Keynote event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties and Sally Mott Freeman & John K. Freeman; our Closing event is presented by the Delaware Community Foundation. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.